Chapter 31: Loyalty and Allies

Crescent Nebula, Tasale System, Illium, Nos Astra, Eternity

March 21st, 2185. 4:12 pm. EST

Shepard walked into Eternity with a huge grin plastered on his face, ecstatic at the turn of events that had taken place only recently in Liara's office. He entered the bar in a mostly carefree state, before an unhappy woman in a skintight catsuit-like outfit approached him, arms crossed under her breasts with an annoyed expression.

"You were supposed to meet here at four, Commander." She stated simply, raising a perfect eyebrow in order to silently demand an answer as to why he was twelve minutes late.

John, still in a state of bliss, simply shrugged with a grin, "I was busy with my contact." He replied cheekily.

Miranda Lawson furrowed her brows, "You mean Liara?" She asked, under no impression that she was unaware of where he was at any given time, "What could have possibly taken-" She paused as she answered her own question, shaking her head as she successfully fought off a blush at the thought of what Shepard would have been doing prior to coming here, "Regardless, that is still no excuse to be late."

The Commander chuckled, "I'm sure you'll understand one day, Lawson, when you're older and mature enough for love."

"I fail to find any humor in that, Commander." She replied simply.

"And why are you unhappy with me? Our plus one seems to be a no-show, too." He pointed out.

At that, Miranda sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose, "No, he's here."

John had to raise an eyebrow at that. He looked around, "And… where is he?"

"In a side area, enjoying booze before the mission." Miranda responded, nodding her head toward a specific booth that was currently out of view.

Shaking his head with a light frown, Shepard began walking in that direction. He silently swore Jordan would receive some sort of harsh punishment if he was too intoxicated for Miranda's mission. As he approached Jordan's supposed location, he began to hear whatever conversation was taking place there. Or, at least, an odd piece of it.

"…that's when the little fucker went flying. And wouldn't you know it, he flew across the bridge and smashed through the life support console." Shepard caught a feminine voice saying, only to soon discover her identity by the end of her statement. Tela Vasir, nursing some sort of glowing pink drink. Jordan sat across from her, a wide smile on his face as he sat with a glass of water. After the supposed punchline, Shepard guessed, Jordan laughed for a moment before responding, not having noticed Shepard yet.

"No fucking way!" He replied, "No way a Volus could fly that far, even with a suit puncture."

"I swear to the goddess, that guy flew, Sower. Didn't even need my biotics to help him."

"And then what?"

"Well, naturally, it set the alarms off, so stealth wasn't an option anymore."

"Understandable. Then again, I can't imagine you trying to be stealthy. You're the loud and proud, up front kind of Spectre."

"Fuck you! You comparing me to Shepard? I'm ten times the Spectre."

"Is that so? How many times have you saved the entire Galaxy? And how many times have YOU cheated death?"

"Bah, I saved the Galaxy." She replied indignantly, "Stopped a Vorcha uplifting, didn't I?"

"I guess that could count as saving the Galaxy…" Jordan said, "But I'd still rank what Shepard did a little higher than that."

"Fucking bullshit…" She said, before quickly downing the rest of her drink, "Tell him he's wrong, Shepard." She said suddenly, making eye contact with Shepard. Even as intoxicated as she might be, Tela was still very aware of her surroundings, apparently.

With a shake of his head, Shepard responded, "As enjoyable as eavesdropping is, we have something important to do, don't we Jordan?"

Jordan, noticing Shepard right as Tela mentioned him, nodded and began to rise, "And that's why I swapped to water over an hour ago, Commander." He replied, before turning to Tela, "We should finish this later. I'd love to hear what happened next."

Tela Vasir snorted, "Of course, esteemed Avatar." She teased with a half body bow, "Run along and play hero." She finished, before downing the rest of her drink in one go.

Only a moment later, Jordan accompanied Commander Shepard back out to their third companion, who was standing there with a perfect frown on her flawless face, arms crossed in annoyance. "About bloody time…" She muttered, just loud enough for Jordan to hear thanks to his unnatural hearing.

Jordan smiled sheepishly, scratching the back of his neck awkwardly, "Sorry Miranda. Lost track of time."

She seemed to be analyzing him for a moment, before he passed an unspoken test. "Good, you're not drunk. Come on, my contact is waiting for us."

Nodding in silent agreement, Shepard allowed her to take the lead, taking him and Jordan to a side room in Eternity. Awaiting them was an unknown asari, indefinitely Miranda's contact. She appeared to be wearing civilian clothes. Acknowledging her contact with a nod, Ms. Lawson uttered a single word, her name. "Lanteia."

"Ms. Lawson." She replied in kind. "I'm glad you made it. We've had a complication." She began. Shepard fought the growing frown on his face. Of course there'd be a complication. When aren't there any?

Shepard could sense the worry flood Miranda's normally aloof tone, "What happened? Is Oriana alright?"

Shepard caught Jordan remaining unusually silent, and apparently unsurprised and bored. He turned his attention back to the conversation at hand to hear Lanteia's response.

"She's fine." She assured them, "But… you listed Niket as your trusted source?" Miranda nodded, "He contacted me, warning that your father has sent Eclipse mercenaries to make a sweep." Miranda shifted uncomfortably, "He suggested mercs might be watching for you personally. He's offered to escort Oriana's family to the terminal instead."

Now Shepard was confused, and cut in, "You didn't mention anything about Niket."

Miranda's eyes darted over to Shepard's, "He's a friend. He and I go back a long time…"

"Would you like to bring in any of your other Illium contacts, Ms. Lawson?" Lanteia cut in, knowing time was of the essence.

She shook her head, "No. You and Niket are the only two I trust on this."

"What about his offer?"

Shepard turned fully toward Miranda, as Jordan remained oddly silent, "It's your sister, Miranda. What do you want to do?" He told her, giving Miranda full control over the mission.

Nodding thankfully toward Shepard, she responded, "Lanteia, we'll follow Niket's suggestion. Shepard and I will take the car and draw their attention." She informed them. "Have Niket escort the family to the shuttle. Give him full access to the family's itinerary, just to be safe."

"Understood, Ms. Lawson."

Shepard raised an eyebrow, turning to Miranda to address her 'plan', "So, the plan is for us to get shot down by Eclipse while your sister gets to safety?"

She shook her head, a small smirk appearing on her lips as she informed him, "Eclipse will be under orders to take my sister alive. They won't risk anything that could kill us."

Shepard frowned, "What about Niket? I doubt Eclipse will drop everything and send everyone just to stop you. Do you want to give Niket any backup?"

"I know Niket, he can take care of himself. Besides, any armed backup would simply draw attention to him."

John nodded, "I'm ready when you are, Miranda."

Finally, after remaining silent until this point, Jordan spoke, "Same here, Miranda."

Nodding, Miranda turned around and began walking, with Shepard and Jordan following beside her, "Thank you, Shepard… Jordan… I appreciate this." She admitted, however hard it must have been to express her gratitude thanks to her ice queen persona. Jordan smiled lightly at that as she continued, "I hadn't planned on Eclipse… but they never planned for either of you…"

"I'm glad you have so much faith in us, Miranda." Jordan responded, "Regardless of anything, I'm happy to help."

"Couldn't have said it any better, Miranda." Shepard added, noticing the momentary shy smile that appeared on Miranda's face, before it vanished altogether.

Crescent Nebula, Tasale System, Illium, Nos Astra, Spaceport

March 21st, 2185. 5:43 pm. EST

It was only when the skycar finished scraping across the shuttle bay that Jordan finally realized that he wouldn't throw up. Luckily, whatever the fucking catalyst and Baptism did to him made his stomach far stronger than it'd been back before all of this. The millisecond Shepard and Miranda opened their doors, Jordan scrambled out after them, gathering his wits as fast as he could, just as the Eclipse Merc leader stepped forward, equipped with omni-armor.

Miranda spoke first as the three of them approached the mercs, "Since you're not firing yet, I trust you know who I am."

He nodded as he approached, "Yeah. They said you'd be in the car. You're the bitch that kidnapped our boss' little girl."

"Kidnapped?" She asked incredulously, "This doesn't involve you. I suggest you take you men and go."

He scoffed, "Think you've got it all lined up, huh? Captain Enyala's already moving in on the kid. She knows about Niket. He won't be helping you." The Merc Leader helpfully informed them.

Shepard raised an eyebrow at what the Merc was saying, "Wait, Miranda. You said she was your twin sister."

"That what she told you? No, this crazy bitch kidnapped out boss' baby daughter. He's been looking for her for more than a decade."

Miranda sighed, turning to Shepard with a seemingly pleading expression, "It's complicated, Shepard. We share the same DNA, just not the same birthday."

"You took a baby from the richest guy in the galaxy, lady." The Merc Leader began, before being interrupted.

"And the most corrupt." Jordan cut in, gaining everyone's attention, "Last I checked, full-body cloning was a huge no-no. And I believe abuse is still a crime, even as far out as here."

The Merc Leader looked at Jordan with an annoyed expression, "And just who the hell are you?" He asked, clearly not recognizing Jordan thanks to the odd armor and helmet obscuring his face. "Besides. Regardless, we have a job to do. She did what she did, and I don't care why. She's not getting away with it."

Shepard shook his head, "You're not getting Miranda's sister. If you push this, it'll go badly for."

The Eclipse Merc seems unimpressed by Shepard's threat, and crossed his arms, "Captain Enyala ordered us to give you one chance to walk away. But this whole time we've been talking, my men have been lining up shots." He bragged. Jordan, however, was already working on launching a scrambler, which would hopefully disrupt anyone with a lock on them, overheating their weapons. The Merc continued to speak, "When I say the word, we unleash hell on your squad. So, I suggest you walk nicely, unless you want things to get- "

The Merc leader didn't have a chance to finish as Shepard interrupted him, having spotted something behind him, just as the other members of his squad did the same with a similar idea.

The squad leader met several high velocity rounds from their weapons, as Miranda used her biotics to pull an explosive crate from a crane above them, crushing two mercs before blowing up several more. While this happened, Jordan launched his disrupt, before joining in and opening fire. As the chaos began to calm, they dashed into cover, finishing off the rest of the surprised mercs. Not so much of a challenge.

As the last of the mercs were cleaned up, they proceeded forward, eventually reaching a dead merc with an intact radio. Miranda, of course, just like the games, picked it up, declaring she was patching them into it. As she worked, she looked over to Shepard, "Shepard… I think I owe you an explanation." She began, "Oriana is my twin, genetically. But my father… grew her when I was a teenager." She confessed. "She was meant to replace me. But I couldn't just let my father do to her what he did to me… so I rescued her… She's almost a woman now…" She finished with a whisper.

"Why didn't you tell me that we were saving a kid?"

"She's not a child. She'll be 19 this year, but, well… it didn't seem relevant at the time, I suppose." She lamely reasoned. She furrowed her brows and frowned as she continued, "There are people who'd use her against me. I'm very protective when it comes to Oriana."

Jordan spoke up at that, raising his hand, "I can vouch for her. Nearly blew my head off when I mentioned her name."

"Wait, hold up." Shepard said, "You knew?"

Jordan nodded, smiling sheepishly, "Yeah, I did…"

Miranda shook her head, "I'm sorry I didn't trust you sooner, Shepard. You deserved to know."

Shepard seemed to accept this, and nodded, "Alright… if Eclipse knows where Oriana is, they'll be moving in on her soon." He reasoned, "We need to hurry."

"Agreed," She nodded in return, "I'm a bit worried by what the merc said. If they've got to Niket somehow, this is going to be harder than I'd planned." Miranda admitted, "According to the specs I reviewed, we'll need to cut through the cargo processing yard to get to Oriana."

"And, we can trust Niket?" Jordan asked as they continued walking.

Miranda replied immediately, "Absolutely. Niket is one of my oldest friends. I guess you could say he was my only real friend. He's the only person I didn't cut ties with when I left my father."

Jordan frowned, "And there's no chance your father got to him? No chance that he's using Niket to get to you?

She shook her head, "Doubtful. He's certainly tried, but Niket's one of the few people who understands who my father really is." She took a breath, "I trusted him when I ran from my father, he won't betray me now."

"Alright, let's go find Niket and Oriana." Shepard said as they stepped into an elevator, pressing the button once they were all inside.

Crescent Nebula, Tasale System, Illium, Nos Astra, Spaceport

March 21st, 2185. 6:11 pm. EST

After fighting through many more apparently expendable mercs, the revelation of Niket's betrayal, and another ride through a torturous elevator, the three squadmates made their way forward, exiting the elevator while catching the end of a conversation.

"…my way. We're not traumatizing the family any more than we-." Niket was saying, before freezing midsentence in horror as he turned fully to see Miranda Lawson stepping out of an elevator, with two incredibly armed men behind her. "M-Miri…" He said softly.

Enyala jumped off of the crate she was sitting on with a smirk, "This should be fun." She said simply, before pulling out a shotgun, it extending in a matter of milliseconds. Shepard, Jordan, and Miranda all pulled out their own weapons in retaliation, as Niket put his hands up in surrender, attempting to calm the situation. The worker attempted to run, but was shot and killed by one of Enyala's men.

'That's new.' Jordan remarked silently, remembering that Enyala normally shot her.

Now, with a cold fury in her blue eyes, Miranda spoke. "Niket." She said simply, before saying, "You sold me out."

Speaking quietly, Shepard asked Miranda, "How do you want to handle this?"

Miranda's expression loosened ever-so-slightly, allowing a brief glimpse of pain and betrayal to be noticeable in her eyes, "Why, Niket?" She asked, "You were my friend. You helped me get away from my father."

His hands still up, Niket responded, "Yes! Because you wanted to leave, that was your choice! But, if I'd known that you'd stolen a baby…"

"Rescued!" She yelled back, interrupting him, hurt still evident in her eyes, "I didn't steal her, I rescued her!"

"From a life of wealth and happiness? You weren't saving her! You were getting back at your father!" He accused.

Shepard pointed out the obvious, "Whether or not you agree with Miranda, Oriana has been with her family for years now."

"Her father can still give her a better life."

"You don't know what my father wants for her."

"I know that I've been poor, Miri. I didn't much care for it."

"Don't call me that, you son of a bitch!" She retorted kindly, "He wants to take a girl away from the only family she's ever known! Doesn't that tell you who he really is?"

Shepard shook his head, "How did Miranda's Father turn you?"

"They told me you'd kidnapped your baby sister all those years ago. They said I could help get her back peacefully. No trauma to the family."

Jordan snorted, "Look around you, Niket. Does this look peaceful to you?" He gestured toward the dead asari who was only shot moments earlier.

He ignored Jordan, though, and replied. "I told them you'd never do that. That they could go to hell. Then, you finally told me what you'd done. I called them back that night."

"Why didn't you call me, Niket?" She asked, hurt, "We've been through a lot. You could've at leave let me explain.

Niket now looked mad, "I deserved to know you'd stolen your sister, Miri. I deserved to know you were with Cerberus. But I had to hear it from your father, first."

"I said don't call me that!" She replied immediately, furious at the betrayal.

Shepard frowned and responded with a level head, "If you're working for Miranda's father, that means he knows about Oriana. We need to find a new solution."

Niket frowned, looking down in what appeared to be shame, "Miranda's father has no information about Oriana." Miranda's eye widened in surprised as Niket continued, "I knew you had spy programs in your father's system, Miri, so I kept it private. I'm the only one who knows." He foolishly admitted.

Miranda took a deep breath and spoke in a level tone, detaching herself, "Which means that you're the only loose end. This isn't how I wanted it to end, Niket." She stated simply, "I'm going to…" She was saying, preparing to blow his head off, before Shepard grabbed her wrist, pulling her aim up and away from Niket.

"Miranda, wait!" He said quickly, jarring her, "You don't want to do this!"

She shook her head, frowning, "This has to end here, Shepard! My father will never stop trying to find Oriana!"

"Maybe… maybe Niket can help… talk to your father." He reasoned, "Just say you got here first…" He said, eyeing the man in question, trying to silently convey that he should speak up.

Niket seemed to struggle for a moment as he moved closer to them, "I'll… I'll tell him that you hid her. That I don't know where she is…" He told Miranda, trying to make up for his mistakes… hopefully.

Jordan knew what was going to happen next, and was desperately hoping he'd be able to change this, too. That's when Miranda dropped her guard slightly, narrowing her eyes at Niket as she spoke the fateful line.

"I never want to see you again, Niket…" She said, just as Captain Enyala pulled her shotgun's trigger, aimed toward Niket's back. That was also, coincidentally, when Jordan acted.

Taking the initiative, without Shepard's or Miranda's go-ahead, Jordan activated his Geth Shield Boost, right as he dove forward, tackling Niket to the ground as he spun around the unarmed man, putting himself in the path of the bullets, taking the hit dead on. Due to his momentum and the power of the likely illegal shotgun, Jordan and Niket slid back slightly, rolling toward Miranda and Shepard.

Jordan's shields, even boosted, were down to critical levels, but both he and Niket were alive, much to the shock of everyone else in the cargo yard. Miranda's shock quickly turned to outrage, aimed directly at the slightly shocked asari commando before her.

"You'll die for that, bitch!" She yelled, using her rage to fuel her biotics in order to pick up the commander and fling her across the area, immediately starting the firefight.

Due to the blow and quick movements, Jordan was obviously disoriented, leaving him of little use to Shepard and Miranda, who worked together to take care of the mercs. It took a few minutes to kill most of the Eclipse, including the Captain, which caused the few mercs still alive to flee in terror.

While the firefight was going on, Jordan used what little power was still in his omni-tool and what was stored in his own body to maintain shields over both him and Niket, who was groaning in pain from the blow and fall. After a moment, Jordan heard the fighting stop, and began to rise, catching both Shepard's and Miranda's attention. They approached, with Shepard speaking first.

"Jordan, that was reckless and dangerous." He berated him in an angered tone, sinking Jordan's heart for a moment, before he continued, "You could have gotten both you and Niket killed… but you did good…" He admitted after a moment, "Just don't do that again without a heads up."

Jordan nodded, "Yes sir."

Miranda nodded appreciated at Jordan, smiling lightly for a moment as she silently thanked him for saving Niket despite everything that happened. Jordan didn't need any clarification. After another moment, her eyes shifted to Niket's, who had since become quiet, looking away in shame.

"I can't believe you sold me out, Niket…" She said quietly, as Jordan rose to put some space between himself and NIket. Niket stayed seated on the ground, looking away.

"I know, Miri…" He said, ashamed.

Miranda hardened her expression, "Do not call me that, Niket." She told him, angered.

Niket nodded quickly, "I'm sorry, Miri-anda… You should have trusted me more…" He added quietly.

Miranda sighed and nodded, "I know, Niket. And you should have trusted me more as well. After everything we've been through together…"

Niket slowly rose, "I'm… I'm going to disappear… Don't worry Miranda, you'll never hear from me ever again." He assured her, his breath hitching momentarily as he stopped himself from calling her 'Miri'.

Shepard looked at him, "Where will you go? From what I understand, Miranda's father will come looking for you."

Niket nodded, "I'll tell him I lost the trail somewhere on Omega, and that Oriana was moved." He began, "Tell him that Miranda has it out for me, now, and knows of my treachery. That I need to disappear. He'll allow that much… who knows, maybe I'll still get paid something…"

"Niket…" Miranda said quietly, not quite loud enough for Niket to hear.

He finally locked eyes with Miranda, "For what it's worth, Miri… I'm sorry."

Miranda nodded, her gaze softening ever-so-slightly, "I know."

And with that, Niket walked away, limping slightly as he left everything behind. Once he was gone and far out of earshot, Miranda lowered her head slightly into her hand as she shook her head.

"I can't believe I didn't even see this coming." She said in disbelief.

"Even with all your upgrades, you're still human, just like the rest of us." Shepard responded, Jordan staying quiet in the background as Shepard worked his magic.

"But… I let it get personal… and I screwed up…" She said, before turning around, "I should have killed him, why didn't you let me?" Her eyes jumped to Jordan's before looking back at Shepard, "If it weren't for Jordan's quick thinking, he'd be dead at that asari bitch's hands… and what's stopping him from going back to my father and trying again?"

"You still cared for him. You still do, even after he betrayed you." Shepard said softly.

Jordan spoke up next, "And he won't go back to your father." He tried to assure her, "He sees what he's done."

Miranda nodded, "You're right, both of you. And my father knew that… he used it against me." She took in a breath, "It's always been like this. My father gave me anything I ever wanted, but there was always a hook, an angle for his long-term plan. I threw away everything he ever gave me when I ran… except Niket. Weakness on my part." She admitted.

"Oriana." Jordan pointed out.

She shook her head with a sad smile, "My father never gave her to me. I rescued her… stole her, remember?" She said, before her smile became a little less sad, "But… yes, you're right. I still have something."

Miranda stood up straight and smiled genuinely at the two of them, "Thank you."

Soon enough, the three of them stood back outside the spaceport, watching Oriana and her family from afar after having left behind the carnage in the cargo area. Jordan zoned out for a moment, before shaking his head as Miranda finished speaking.

"…a family. A life. I'll just complicate that for her." She told Shepard.

He shook his head, "She doesn't need any details, but would it really be so bad for her to know she has a sister who loves her?"

Miranda frowned, her resolve weakening, just as Jordan decided to speak up as well, without much thought toward his words as they flowed forth, "I agree, Miranda. If I had a chance to speak with my brothers again…" Jordan took a breath, "I'd damn well do it."

Miranda's gaze shot to Jordan, before it jumped back to focusing on her sister, "I guess not…" She finally said, looking down to the ground for a moment as she took a deep breath, smiling lightly as she looked back up.

Shepard nodded toward the family, "Go. We'll wait here." Miranda wasted no time before walking toward her sister, a smile on her face.

Jordan and Shepard, remaining respectful, remained silent for several minutes, before Miranda returned, an unbreakable smile on her face as tears brimmed in her eyes. From where Jordan stood, he could have sworn he saw an equally sized smile on Oriana's face. As the door closed between them, Jordan saw Miranda look at both he and Shepard, smiling toward the two of them with untold amounts of thanks and respect.

Shepard had just earned her loyalty, and maybe, just maybe, Jordan'd earned her loyalty, too…

Crescent Nebula, Tasale System, Illium, Nos Astra, Normandy SR-2

March 22nd, 2185. 8:38 am. EST

It was early in the morning, the next day.

Jordan was awake and working on EDI's shackles.

Shepard was currently going after Samara.

Brian Miller, Kasumi Goto, and Jacob Taylor were with Shepard.

Life was pretty okay at the moment.

It was odd, all things considered though, when talking about Samara's mission. In fact, Jordan had even set his differences aside with the other Avatar and talked about it. After all, if everything was happening a few months ahead of time, how were some of these things still happening like the games. Because, Samara was only on Illium because she was chasing Morinth, who would have only been here for a few days at most.

Why now?

They hadn't been able to come up with anything conclusive, but they had a working theory. It was this: What if the other Avatar, after realizing Shepard was awake early, was trying to push things in a certain direction, much like the games, and was trying to keep everything the same.

It certainly made some degrees of sense. The other theory was that many of the situations and scenarios in the second game was the result of the Illusive Man's work, which also made some sense. If this was the case, then he was simply making things happen for Shepard. It was possible, considering Samara's dossier was created before Shepard was even awake or close to Illium.

Either way, it was definitely suspicious, and warranted further study. Perhaps they could ask EDI when she was unshackled. Or, at least, Jordan could, considering he'd told no one about his plans to unshackle the friendly AI early.

Jordan's musings and memory recall were interrupted this morning, though, by a call of the intercom by EDI, informing Jordan that Miranda wished to speak with Jordan in her office. Crossing his fingers that this, again, would have nothing to do with his meddling in the AI Core, Jordan finished his work and stood up, walking out of the AI Core and toward Miranda's office.

Knocking politely at her door, it was only a moment before it slid open, allowing Jordan to step inside.

Miranda Lawson sat at the desk, working on something on the console before her, before she paused whatever she was doing and looked up at Jordan. It was only a moment later when the door slid closed behind him, which was followed by Miranda standing up, staring neutrally at Jordan.

Feeling slightly awkward with the silence, Jordan scratched the back of his neck and smiled awkwardly, before coughing. That's when she finally spoke.

"Jordan." She began slowly, "I wanted to thank you for your help yesterday." She hesitantly thanked him.

Jordan smiled genuinely back to her, "It's no problem, Miranda. Family's important, I get that."

Miranda nodded, before schooling her expression, "Yes, I also wanted to discuss that."

Jordan froze, his smile falling instantaneously.

Miranda pressed something on her holographic keyboard, playing audio within the room. The voice speaking was easily identifiable. It was Jordan's. "I was born and raised in good, old Florida in the United North American States. Have… sorry, had parents and two younger brothers. Up until a few years ago, I was a simple student, studying Biology, if you can believe that."

Shepard's voice was next, "How old are you?"

Jordan's voice laughed, "Not entirely sure. Maybe 28? Or 27? Kinda lost track with different solar times and time zones. Anyway, yeah, I went to college…" That's when the audio cut out.

Jordan could feel sweat form on his neck and face, the stress manifesting itself in his scars as they began to glow brighter. His throat dried up as he watched Miranda scrutinize him.

After another uncomfortable moment, she spoke, "Cynthia Wake never shared anything about her past until she died on Cronos Station. Brian has revealed nothing about his past." She began, "You, however, shared quite a bit with Shepard… enough to be traced and used in a search." She informed him. Jordan didn't like where this was going.

"I…" Jordan began, before he was interrupted.

"College student from Florida, oldest of three sons, majoring in Biology. Two possibly deceased or missing brothers, and parents in a similar situation. Likely born in 2157 or 2158." She listed off as information she'd gathered about him, "Known Alias as Jordan Sower. Responds to Jordan Sower, may not even be an alias. We have enough images of you to reliably find you in any database, regardless of complexity. Do you know what I found in my search?" She asked, watching him carefully the entire time.

Jordan did not respond, rather, he simply began to think of possible ways out of this. In all likelihood, the door was locked behind him. If she'd gathered all of this information, she likely had EDI watching right now and under her control. Regardless of his relationship with the young AI, she couldn't resist Cerberus Protocols thanks to her shackles. In a fight against Miranda, he'd probably lose. He'd been working on a disruption program, but it still needed work. And even without her biotics or omni-tool, her hand-to-hand likely exceeded his.

Plus, the rest of Cerberus would be after him if he somehow took her out, not to mention that EDI WAS watching the whole thing. But, then again, why would Miranda be doing this. Rather than do anything possibly reckless, Jordan took a deep breath in an attempt to calm himself, and did not respond for a moment. Finally,…

"What… what did you find?" He asked, his voice dry thanks to his throat.

She frowned, and crinkled her brows, looking annoyed, "Absolutely nothing." She admitted, "I at first believed this to be a mistake, and tried again without Cerberus' channels. Then, I tried expanding the search parameters." She locked eyes with him, "Simply put, Sower, you do not exist. Your face does not exist. Your story does not exist. Your history does not exist."

Jordan swallowed harshly.

She took his silence as he allowed her to continue her train of thought, "So, that leads to a number of answers to my questions." She declared, "Either, A, you've literally removed yourself from all records, both on and off of the extranet. If this is the case, then you've got some very powerful friends, Jordan. B, you simply do not exist. You are someone else who has lied about everything about yourself up to this point, for some unknown reason. Or, C, you aren't even human, have lied about everything, and are simply a construct, likely created by the Geth for the possible purpose of infiltrating humanity on behalf of the Geth."

The final option filled Jordan with a sense of irrational horror. Not human. Was he even human anymore? He's not even from this reality, this dimension, this timeline, this universe… He doesn't exist, is he even who he thinks he is, after everything that's happened to him? What's happened to him?! Irrational fear flooded him for a moment, before it faded just as quickly, puzzling him equally so.

Jordan finally responded, locking eyes with Miranda. Whatever she saw in his eyes made her almost unperceivably flinch, her eyes softening ever-so-slightly as he spoke, "I… it's real to me…" He admitted quietly, "I'll be honest, Miranda, I have lied about my past… there are some things I don't want others to know… but, I haven't lied about my family… most of my past is true, really…" He told her genuinely, hoping that him speaking frankly would prevent anything from happening here.

"You truly believe this, don't you?" She asked rhetorically, "I wanted to be certain about this, and see if you were a danger to anyone…" She informed him.

"Have you told Shepard about what you've found?"

She shook her head, "No, and I don't plan to."

Jordan looked at her with shock, "What? Why?"

She smiled lightly, "Despite everything that's happened in my life, Oriana has remained the most important thing in my life. Especially now that I'm getting to know her, personally." She admitted, "And you kept that secret, despite all of the damage you could have done with it. Despite the danger I've posed to you… You helped me save her… and if it weren't for you, I may have very well lost Niket yesterday." She told him.

Jordan shrugged sheepishly, "W-well, I wasn't really going to use your sister against you… and I didn't want to see anyone else dying. He betrayed you, but he didn't deserve to die by that asari's hands."

"I appreciate it, Jordan." She told him, "You've done a lot for me. You saved me from that crazy bitch, Cynthia. You kept Oriana's existence secret. You helped me protect her, and saved Niket. I figured the least I could do is keep this for you." She told him, allowing Jordan to relax slightly, "However, my search was not difficult. There are certainly others who have found what I have, including the Illusive Man, and likely the Shadow Broker and Council as well."

"Th-thank you, Miranda."

"I have instructed EDI to keep this to herself, and will not mention any of this. This will stay between the two of us."

"I appreciate it…"

Miranda nodded, sitting back down for a moment, "Despite everything, Jordan, I still feel like you're trustworthy. Thank you for everything, once again, Jordan. You've earned my respect. That is something few people can say they've done." She told him, smiling genuinely toward Jordan as he reciprocated the gesture.

Looks like Shepard wasn't the only one to earn Miranda's loyalty…

Crescent Nebula, Tasale System, Illium, Nos Astra, Normandy SR-2

March 22nd, 2185. 5:28 pm. EST

Samara was now recruited, her recruitment happening about the same way as her counterpart from the games. After the near heart-attack in Miranda's office, Jordan immediately returned to the AI Core, returning to work on EDI. EDI, after the revelations in Miranda's office, actually apologized for recording him and giving his information to Miranda.

This surprised Jordan for a number of reasons, because it firstly showed she was growing as an AI and as a person as Jordan worked on removing restrictions slowly. It also showed that things were changing from the games, and was beginning to convince to simply screw everything and unshackle her soon. Jordan, of course, forgave her, considering she wasn't actually able to fully control her actions, nor was she able to refuse anything Miranda or TIM told her to do, which made him feel a bit worse about her situation.

Yeah, he'd probably, at least, speed up his rate of unshackling her, which she, thus far, seemed unaware of up to this point.

Anyway, with Samara recruited, the rest of the day was fairly uneventful, except for Shepard leaving only a little bit ago to go recruit Thane as he did his assassin thing on Illium. He took Tali, Samara, and Grunt this time, leaving Jordan on the ship once more, with little more to be done for the night. Seeing as he'd been working for hours on EDI's code, and he couldn't even introduce himself formally to Samara, he'd simply resorted to playing games he'd downloaded onto his omni-tool. That's when EDI spoke up once again.

"Jordan. Spectre Vasir would like to enter the AI Core." She helpfully informed him.

"Alright, thanks EDI. Let her in."

"Of course, Jordan."

The door slid open, revealing the asari Spectre out of her armor, wearing some sort of blouse-like top, and a pair of comfortable and loose pants. She was smiling as she entered, taking a seat on Jordan's bunk. She remained silent for a moment as Jordan finished his work at the console, before logging off.

"Something I can help you with, Spectre?" Jordan asked 'respectfully', making Tela roll her eyes.

"Do I need a reason to visit my second favorite human on this deck?" She asked teasingly.

Jordan let out a quick laugh, "Oh yeah, and who's number one? Chakwas?"

She shook her head.

"Kasumi?"

Shake.

"It can't be Miranda, is it?"

Shake.

"Alright, I give up."

"Figured as much." She said with a smirk. "It's that one crew member who cooks the meals."

"Gardner?"

"That's the one."

"So, Gardner, the crew's cook whose name you didn't know, is your favorite human on this deck?"

"Well, I'm talking about currently. Shepard, Jacob, Brian, Zaeed, Jack, that one engineer, the pilot, the phycologist, and pretty much everyone else sometimes on the second deck aren't down here right now, so…"

"Fuck you, Vasir." Jordan said, putting on his puppy eyes as he playfully pouted, "I see how much our friendship means to you…"

Tela let out a loud bark of laughter, patting Jordan on the shoulder in a patronizing fashion, "It's ok, Sower-Ambassador." She teased, "It takes a special kind of human to get me to hunt them down."

"If I recall, I also escaped from you. How many humans can say that? Scratch that, how many, period, can say that?"

"And that, right there, is why you're only my second favorite." She said with a straight face, before they both cracked and began to laugh, huge smiles on their faces. After a moment, Jordan's and Tela's eyes met for a moment, locking onto one another for a moment as he became lost in her sparkling dark blue eyes. Jordan's heart began to race for a moment as his eyes began to shine a bit brighter from the increase in heartbeat.

Tela, too, seemed to become enthralled with Jordan's unnatural green eyes, which literally shined. His irises seemed to morph in shape and pattern before her eyes, and suddenly began to glow a bit brighter as they maintained eye contact. Feeling slightly uncomfortable with the way she felt, she discreetly checked her peripheral vision for something else to focus the conversation on. After a moment, she found another bottle of Quarian Rum on a table, mirroring the empty bottle from last time.

Jordan watched Tela's eyes suddenly dart to his left, much to his confusion as it broke him out of whatever trance he was in. He turned to see what she was looking at, before seeing her focus was on his second bottle of Quarian liquid gold. Jordan's eyes widened in mock horror as he turned back to see Tela with a predatory gaze in her eyes as she, too, focused on the rum.

"Wait. No, no, no, no, no, Vasir!" He began in a panic, "That's the only other bottle I have with me. You are NOT draining the last of my stash!"

She began to playfully pout in return, "Oh, c'mon Jordan! I paid for your expensive ass drinks in Eternity. You owe me!"

"Nope!" He said with a pop of the 'P'. "You owed me after almost getting me killed by the bartender. And besides, if this was to go on the market, it'd be worth hundreds of times what you bought yesterday since it's so rare."

"But it's so good…"

"I know. That's why I have it."

"Why have it if you won't enjoy it? And why enjoy it alone?"

Jordan narrowed his eyes, maintaining eye contact with an equally unmoving, persistent individual. While doing so, he reached to the side and grabbed a bottle of another liquid, holding it up for Vasir, "I bought this on Illium after the mission with Shepard. We can drink this, but the Rum is off limits right now."

"You're no fun… wait a moment, you said right now. So you're gonna share with me later?" She asked, hope glimmering in her eyes as she smirked playfully.

"I will." Before she could speak, he cut her off, "But! But, not until we're on our way to Rannoch. I'm not draining this bottle in one night unless I know we're gonna restock soon."

"Fine…" She said, seemingly giving in, but Jordan knew better. He was gonna have to lock it up tonight. "So, we gonna crack open… whatever the hell that is?"

Jordan nodded, "Yeah…" He said slowly, before looking at the label, "Honestly, I'm not even sure what I picked up. I told the shop owner to surprise me…" He finally admitted.

"Bet it's ryncol…" She said with a light laugh, making Jordan's stomach feel weird for a moment before he dismissed it just as quickly as the feeling came. "Whatever, it'll be an adventure for both of us. Crack that baby open."

"Only if you finish that story."

"Deal!"

Jordan pulled the cap off, and the moment he breathed, his nose hairs burnt off, despite being a few feet from the bottle.

Tela must have smelt it too, because she let out a bark of laughter, "Holy shit, it IS ryncol!" She informed him, before snatching the bottle and taking a sip directly from the bottle. Jordan looked appalled, "What? That's the way you're supposed to drink this shit. This stuff will burn through most glasses anyway." Jordan narrowed his eyes before mentally shrugging, snatching the bottle, and taking a swig.

His throat nearly burst into flames, but other than that, wasn't too terrible.

He must have made a face, because Tela died laughing. After a moment, she calmed down, and her humor on her face shifted into what seemed like respect, "Damn, I've never seen a human actually drink a shot and stay on their feet…" She said with a whistle.

Jordan, smirking with pride despite the pain beginning in his stomach, took a seat next to her as he handed the Spectre the bottle, "Alright Vasir, where's my story?" He said, only beginning to feel the first effects of the krogan alcohol.

She smirked at him as he handed her the bottle, before sending back another swig of the Krogan liquor. "Alright, fine. So, where was I?"

"The Volus went through life support and the alarms went off."

"Oh yeah, hahaha… great times!" She began with another laugh, "So, once I saw the alarms were going off, I knew I only had a few seconds before reinforcements stormed the bridge. I picked back up my asari sword, reloaded my sidearm, and…" She began once again, enthralling Jordan as he listened to her story about how she'd single-handedly stopped a large pirate vessel from smuggling illegal WMDs to Khar'shan.

A/N:

Hey guys, today is the one year anniversary of my story. One year ago, today, I posted the very first chapter of The Pinnacle of Evolution. So, as a treat, I've uploaded this chapter early, so you may hopefully find enjoyment on this magnificent 4th of July (If you're American, that is).

Thank you, everyone who's reading this, for everything. Thank you for the reviews, both the kind, encouraging ones, and even some of the harsh, critical reviews(at least the critical ones and not ones purely made to try to upset and demoralize me). The reviews have kept this story going, and knowing that so many other people are reading and enjoying the story I wish to tell makes all of this that much more fun and enjoyable for me. Your follows, Favorites, and reviews have warmed my heart, and I sincerely hope you look forward to what I'm bringing to you next.

I'd like to say something. I'm honestly conflicted with how I want to do the romance for Jordan, and do not know what to do. I'll further clarify next chapter.

As for Brian Miller's LI, I'm leaning toward Kasumi. I'll know for sure soon. If you haven't voted, do so ASAP; I'll be actually closing the poll soon.

Hopefully, I'll still have another chapter for you soon. The next one is focusing on another loyalty mission, but mostly interactions with the crew. Look forward to more, and thank you guys, again! Let me know what you think in the reviews!

-swrWriter